1972 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1972 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
*Prime Minister - Edward Heath, Conservative Party

Events

* 9 January - Miners begin a strike which lasts for seven weeks. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/9/newsid_2515000/2515917.stm|title="Miners strike against government", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 20 January - Unemployment exceeds 1 million for the first time since the 1930s. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/20/newsid_2506000/2506897.stm|title="UK unemployment tops one million", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 30 January - On 'Bloody Sunday' in Northern Ireland 14 killed when troops opened fire on demonstrators. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/30/newsid_2452000/2452145.stm|title="Army kills 13 in civil rights protest", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 2 February - Protestors burn down the British Embassy in Dublin.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 433-434|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 3 February–13 February - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, but do not win any medals.
* 22 February - An Official Irish Republican Army bomb kills six people at Aldershot Barracks. [cite web|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/22/newsid_2519000/2519029.stm|title="IRA bomb kills six at Aldershot barracks", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 25 February - End of miners' strike after seven weeks. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/25/newsid_2516000/2516687.stm|title="Miners call off crippling coal strike", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 30 March - The Troubles: Parliament of Northern Ireland suspended.
* 31 March - A CND demonstration is held against the nuclear base at Aldermaston. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/31/newsid_2530000/2530839.stm"|title="CND begins march to Aldermaston", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 1 April - William Whitelaw appointed as the first Northern Ireland Secretary.
* 19 April - a report into the Bloody Sunday shootings by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery, exonerates the British troops of blame because the demonstration had been illegal. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/19/newsid_2491000/2491125.stm|title="'Bloody Sunday' report excuses Army", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 30 April - the Brighton Belle train makes its last journey from London to Brighton.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* 24 May - The Gravelly Hill Interchange better known as Spaghetti Junction opened near Birmingham.
* 26 May - privatisation of state-owned travel firm Thomas Cook & Son. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/26/newsid_3003000/3003665.stm|title="Thomas Cook packaged and sold", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 30 May - Official Irish Republican Army declared a cease fire in Northern Ireland. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/30/newsid_2973000/2973759.stm|title="Official IRA declares ceasefire", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 3 June - a Protestant demonstration in Derry turned into a battle. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/3/newsid_2496000/2496155.stm|title="Protestant march ends in battle", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 5 June - funeral of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor at Windsor Castle. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/5/newsid_2496000/2496577.stm|title="Duke of Windsor laid to rest", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 18 June - British European Airways Flight 548 crashes near Staines and 118 people are killed, making it the UK's worst air disaster to date. The only two people who survived the crash were both dead by the time they reached hospital [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/18/newsid_2515000/2515787.stm|title="UK's worst air crash kills 118", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 23 June - Chancellor of the Exchequer Anthony Barber announces decision to float the Pound. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/23/newsid_2518000/2518927.stm|title="Chancellor orders pound flotation", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 1 July - The first official gay pride march in London is held. [cite web|url=http://www.yourlondon.gov.uk/articles/2007/june/pridelondon.jsp|title=Your London|accessdate=2008-04-02]
* 28 July - A strike by thousands of dockers led to the government announcing a state of emergency on 4 August. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/28/newsid_2496000/2496609.stm|title="National dock strike begins", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 9 August - The Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Jesus Christ Superstar" makes its West End debut.
* 26 August–10 September - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, and win 4 gold, 5 silver and 9 bronze medals.
* 11 September - First broadcast of the BBC quiz programme "Mastermind".
* 12 September - Sinking of two British trawlers by an Icelandic gunboat triggers the second Cod War.
* 18 September - thousands of expelled Ugandan Asians arrive in Britain after being expelled by Idi Amin. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/18/newsid_2522000/2522627.stm|title="Expelled Ugandans arrive in UK", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 19 September - a parcel bomb kills a diplomat at the Israeli embassy in London. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/19/newsid_2523000/2523027.stm|title="Parcel bomb attack on Israeli embassy", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 10 October - John Betjeman appointed Poet Laureate.
* 13 October - Bank rates abolished and replaced with the Minimum Lending Rate.
* 23 October - Access credit cards introduced.
* 6 November - Government introduces price and pay freezes to counter inflation. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/6/newsid_2538000/2538623.stm|title="Pay and price freeze aims to curb inflation", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 10 December
** John Hicks was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics with Kenneth Arrow for "pioneering contributions to general economic equilibrium theory and welfare theory." [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1972/index.html|title=The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1972|accessdate=2008-01-27]
** Rodney Robert Porter wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Gerald Edelman "for their discoveries concerning the chemical structure of antibodies". [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1972/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1972|accessdate=2008-01-27]

Undated

* Ford announces its new Granada top of the range model, available as a saloon, coupe or estate car, which will be built at the Dagenham plant in England as well as the Cologne plant in West Germany. It is designed to compete with the likes of the Rover P6 and Vauxhall Victor, and on the continent it will be sold as the Ford Consul.

Publications

* Richard Adams novel "Watership Down".
* John Berger's novel "G.".
* Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel "Elephants Can Remember".

Births

* 27 January - Mark Owen, singer and Take That member
* 11 February - Steve McManaman, footballer
* 19 February - Malky Mackay, footballer
* 6 March - Terry Murphy, snooker player
* 20 March - Alexander Kapranos, singer and guitarist (Franz Ferdinand)
* 22 April - Sarah Patterson, actress
* 2 May - Paul Adcock, footballer
* 5 May - James Cracknell, Olympic winning rower
* 4 June - Debra Stephenson, actress
* 3 July - Asha Gill, British-born television host
* 6 August - Geri Halliwell, musician (Spice Girls)
* 7 August - Sarah Cawood, television presenter
* 9 September - Natasha Kaplinsky, newsreader
* 12 September - Jason Statham, actor
* 21 September - Liam Gallagher, singer (Oasis)
* September 21 - Richard Maden, breaststroke swimmer
* 29 September - Robert Webb, comedian and actor
* 2 November - Samantha Janus, actress
* 7 November - Danny Grewcock, rugby player
* 6 November - Thandie Newton, actress
* 29 December - Jude Law, actor

Deaths

* 19 February - John Grierson, documentary film maker (born 1898)
* 29 February - Violet Trefusis, writer and socialite (born 1894)
* 13 March - Tony Ray-Jones, photographer (born 1941)
* 21 March - David McCallum, Sr., violinist and the father of David McCallum (born 1897)
* 29 March - J. Arthur Rank, industrialist and film producer (born 1888)
* 22 May - Cecil Day-Lewis, poet (born 1904)
* 22 May - Margaret Rutherford, actress (born 1892)
* 28 May - King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (born 1894)
* 26 August - Francis Chichester, aviator and sailor (born 1901)
* 28 August - Prince William of Gloucester (air crash) (born 1941)
* 15 September - Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1887)
* 1 October - Louis Leakey, palaeontologist (born 1903)
* 15 October - Douglas Smith, broadcaster (year of birth unknown)
* 28 November - Havergal Brian, composer (born 1876)
* 30 November - Compton Mackenzie, novelist and Scottish nationalist (born 1883)
* 13 December - L. P. Hartley, writer (born 1895)
* 24 December - Gisela Richter, art historian (born 1882)

References

ee also